Archives for October 2010

This post is part of a styling adventure, based around my reader (and now new friend!) Carrie. She is from the US and she has been selected to be one of the 300 lucky people flying to Australia with Oprah Winfrey in December.

I have the wonderful opportunity to style her for her trip and when she attends the Oprah Shows in Australia.

This week I put together a few styling and outfit ideas I had. They are just ideas at this stage, and I guess you could say they are a kind of “style board” of fashion shapes, colours and forms…for a bit of inspiration!

I wanted to focus on her waist to flatter her hourglass figure, so most of the clothes I’ve chosen are slightly fitted at the waist and skim around the curves of her hips.

Left: Top from Asos.com, Skirt from Birdsnest Online Boutique. Jewellery from Ann Taylor. Middle: Top and skirt from Witchery. Right: Top from Witchery and Skirt from Country Road.

Carrie says she’s a foodie – after all, she does own a catering business. She tells me that she loves food colours, like mushroom, magentas, plums, reds, burnt oranges, modern browns and caramels. So I tried to put those colours into the colour palette.

Carrie also mentioned that she often shopped at places like H&M and Ann Taylor. I wanted her to feel comfortable about shopping to find a new outfit, so I found a few nice pieces from those particular shops.

Jacket from H&M. Skirt from Witchery. Pants from Country Road. Tops and jewellery from Ann Taylor.

And of course you can’t forget shoes! These are my picks for Carrie – Celine in Mushroom, Chic in Taupe, Ruby in Black, Blade in Silver. All from Betts.

Next up, I’ll be hearing what Carrie thinks of my ideas. And then I’ll put together some casual outfits.

The best things about YOOX are… the SALES, the large amount of stock, and the search filters, which makes it easy to sift through the huge offerings. This is so cool, because you can, for example, choose only to view garments that are available in extra small, or whatever.

I was actually looking for a dress for the upcoming party season…

But… I got distracted by, yes, the sales, and bought some gorgeous Italian pants (which I need to get shortened, so I’ll show you those later) and these black shorts with a belt tie – which I actually bought for beachwear.

I’m wearing the shorts with a white silk top (borrowed from my mother, it’s actually like 40 years old) and a boyfriend jacket from Singapore fashion label Al&Alicia.

Best Sections to Browse

There were heaps of short dresses under US$100, and I was almost tempted to buy 2 dresses, but I already blew my budget on the shorts and pants.

If you’re a bit of a Spring-scarf-wearer like me, and like to wear unique-looking, silky-cottony designs, check out the scarves here. They make nice gifts too!

6 years ago, I bought my first son a plastic toy garden rake for $1.30.

He was 13 months at the time, and he developed a strange obsession with it. He took it everywhere, to bed, to dinner… and even made sure it “sat” down to watch TV with him.

Well on the weekend, we were having a busy-bee in our backyard – cleaning up and throwing away old stuff. When I say “we”, I mean “me”, because while the boys were supposed to be helping me, they were actually just getting into a pointless, bickering fight over any object that one of them happened to show the slightest interest in. This is apparently quite normal for brothers to do, but it is still – challenging – for me to put up with.

To make my solo efforts at cleaning-up a bit easier, I was dragging the big rubbish bin along behind me, lid open, its big mouth ready to swallow anything. In would go weeds, sticks, old chewed tennis balls, broken bits of old toys, etc.

And look what I found! Mr Rake!

I suppose 6 human years is a long time in rake years. While Mr Rake has been lying at the bottom of our garden, he has been aged from his once shiny splendour into a bent, weathered, faded, gnarly old man with missing and crooked teeth.

I stood there, and had a motherly moment filled with nostalgic warmth, holding Mr Rake affectionately, as you would an old doll. Awwwww.

My kids, who were now fighting over the garden hose, stopped, looked at me and went “WHAT ARE YOU DOING MUM?”

I wanted to share my warm moment with them, I really did. I wanted to show them how precious my memories of them are, and how magical childhood is. I mean, when else can you make friends with a plastic toy gardening implement, and not be considered mad?

But I also realised that if I showed that I put any value on the old rake, one of them would want it, and they would have a fight over it.

So I said “Oh nothing…”

And then I tossed the rake into the bin. I just couldn’t stand them having a fight over it. I would have just gone mad…

And they immediately went back to a tug of war over the hose. Oh well!

If figured, when they are older, if they want a bit of nostalgia…I’ll send them a SMS to the URL of the first rake story.

Carrie is an American reader of this blog, who has been selected to be one of the 300 people flying to Australia with OPRAH WINFREY in December.

Here she is looking fun and fabulous! I love that her bed is covered with a mess of clothes – that is exactly how my bed is when I’m playing dress-ups!

Carrie asked me to help style her, hoping to increase her chances of being selected to sit on the FRONT ROW of the Oprah audience. It sounded like such a cool and fun thing to be part of!

SO. Firstly, I didn’t simply want to bombard Carrie with latest styles and trends and simply say JUST WEAR THIS, THIS, AND THAT. I wanted to get to know her, and HOW and WHY she dresses the way she does.

Getting To Know Carrie
I asked Carrie to rummage through her wardrobe, put on a few of her favourite outfits, and get someone to take photos of her.

Instead she chose to rearrange her bedroom, prop up a huge mirror…and took the photos herself! In the same style as I do. I thought it was utterly hilarious!

She also wrote down a few notes about each outfit, which was great.

After I saw Carrie’s photos, I also really wanted to talk to her too.

I installed Skype on my computer, and then discovered that my old clunker of a computer didn’t have a built-in microphone. Which meant I had to go out to the shops to buy a headset.

Then, as I was working out the time zone difference between Carrie’s part of America, and my part of Australia, I discovered that Carrie lives on exactly the opposite side of the Earth to me. We are exactly 12 hours apart in time. So when it is 8am TODAY for me, it is 8pm YESTERDAY for Carrie (from my point of view). It took a few days to work out our best time to Skype, but it all worked in the end!

So I have learned this much about Carrie’s personality – she is heaps of fun and is happy to laugh about herself.

These are Carrie’s photos of how she dresses now.

Blue Dress – Carrie says she loves this dress because of the gathering at the shoulders. The length and fabric is a bit “muumuu-ish” and it so happens that she has TWO of these dresses because “all 30-somethings need 2 modern day muumuus you know?”

A “muumuu” is an American term for a dress that has little shape, especially, no waist.

Brown Dress – “I just LOVE this dress color and style. It’s not an everyday dress, but I wish it was.”

Black Dress – “This dress is very flattering. I wear it when I am in my event manager role at work. I have to look nice, but not outshine the host or guests.”

Black Dress – “Simple tank dress… with really cute ruffley-material-flowers on the front. It ties in the back.”

Magenta Top – She loves ruffles! Carrie wore this top to her last Oprah Winfrey show. “I LOVE this color. It’s kind of magenta meets plum, but I feel love when I see this color, this material. I just love it.”

Tee and Jeans – She lives in her jeans! “I could wear this outfit everyday! School drop offs, pick ups, running to grocery. It doesn’t draw attention, but it’s also not a jogging outfit. :) “

Her outfit photos were dotted with silly-fun photos like these and funny captions. I get a good feeling, that Carrie wants fashion to be a pleasure in her life…as it should be.

“I like to look great, not overdone for the occasion, but almost always would rather look overdressed than under. I’m thinking that my outfits are usually 70% complete. Accessories and cute jackets, etc. are where I start to fail slightly. I do need fashion help. Style wise, I’m game for anything, really!”

My Analysis

Carrie is a very lucky lady – she has a gorgeous body, with a desirable hourglass figure and great proportions. She has a waist, hips and boobs – exactly the kind of curves I wish I had more of. She’ll basically look great in anything!

I’ll be focusing on how to show off her waist to flatter her hourglass figure, without shouting out loud about it.

Carrie currently has a very simple and basic style, with a clear solution for each occasion. I really like that she appreciates that there are lots of occasions when you don’t want to stand out from the crowd.

I believe I was in that very same place about 5 years ago. I remember NOT being very confident about how to style an outfit. I wasn’t confident to buy expensive items, so I always bought lots of cheaper items.

Once I found something that looked good on me, I just stuck with it, bought similar items, and put outfits together using some simple and basic rules. My life was pretty busy with new babies, and practicality took precedence over “looking stylish”. But of course, my wardrobe got a bit tired after a few years, and I wanted to make a change.

So I went on a fashion journey and education – and now I’m loving the art of fashion and styling. And I’m really excited about taking Carrie along this journey too.

The Outfit Plan

I’m going to create a few outfits for Carrie. Here’s the run down of the critical themes she’ll need for the trip.

1) Outfit for the Oprah Show

2) Backup Outfit for the Oprah show (because everyone needs a backup outfit, in case you find out at short notice what you were planning was just not right for the context.)

3) Evening Wear – Going out to a nice dinner at a posh restaurant/cocktail party/reception. This could double as the back-up outfit.

4) Evening Wear – Casual, but smart.

5) Day wear – Casual, but smart.

6) Day Wear – Very casual summer wear!

I’m also going to include some travel-wear.

I have to factor in the WEATHER too. Carrie might find herself in Queensland (hot and humid), Sydney (hot and humid days, nights might be a bit cold) and Melbourne (well, anything goes for this city with 4 seasons in one day).

And I’ve got some rules. Every item has to be something that can be part of an ongoing wardrobe. (The only dress you should ever buy for only one-use only is your wedding dress!)

All the items have to be reasonably priced, relative to how often they can be worn.

Items cannot be part of a one-season style trend, because they will look like a DATE STAMP by next year.

The next step is for me to come up with some visuals to send to Carrie, for her to consider.

Without sounding too cheesey, I guess you could say that I’ve been on a kind of “fashion journey” in the last couple of years. I’m at a place in my life where I am in the process of building a wardrobe – without spending over my limit.

And as I share my journey, I am featuring whole heap of different online shops. But of course, I only share the ones which are GOOD, and where I have had a positive experience.

My-Wardrobe.com is an online retailer based in the UK, selling luxury designer brands of clothing and accessories. You can find labels such as See by Chloé, DKNY, Paul and Joe, Sonia Rykiel, Michael Kors, Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania.

Yes, most of the stuff there is utterly gorgeous and trendy, and they are priced towards the higher-end of the scale. So for me, I’ve been looking there for “investment” pieces.

An investment piece is one that is excellent quality of fabrics (so it will last for hundreds of wears), that is a style that won’t date, suits my figure, and will always mix and match with future changes to my wardrobe. Because if it doesn’t fill all these criteria, it is hard to justify the greater financial investment.

This time around, I was on a mission to buy some casual tops, in a sheer lux material.

I figured that I was tired of buying tops from my usual favourite high-street fashion stores, and then discovering that EVERY OTHER WOMAN I MEET is wearing exactly the same top because it was on a 30% off sale.

So! I found a very nice and simple t-shirt by Forrest Bob (pictured above) for about US$60 made from super fine modal. It’s very smooth and soft, lightweight and argh, it’s just gorgeous!

I also bought this Wessex Sheer Tank with black crystals for US$50. It’s only slightly sheer and the length is nice.

The great thing about this sheer top is that you can pop it over a dress, wrap a belt around it, and have “a new outfit”.

I’ve had a few e-mails from readers regarding my post a couple of weeks ago about my trip to Sydney to attend the Stella McCartney for Target launch. The readers comments were all along the lines of “how lucky you are” and “how glamorous!”

Well…I won’t deny, it was very cool to attend the launch party, see some fabulous clothes, and have the opportunity to meet so many people in the fashion business.

But the actual event only took 3 hours, and I was away from home for over 48 hours.

So here is a fast summary of my other, very un-glamorous 45 hours.

Taxi to airport. Checked-in my baggage. Met up with another Perth fashion blogger going to the same event – Emma of Dropstitch. We spent 2 hours gossiping about fashion and blogging while waiting for the plane.

As we boarded the budget airliner for the 5 hour flight, I realised I was quite tired, so I tried to sleep. But I was also excited and impatient. If I had been sitting near the pilot of the plane, I would have been saying “Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet?”

I also realised that I was hungry, so I bought an economy meal from the economy airline.

Glamorous!

Emma and I finally arrived in Sydney at 10pm, and we were delivered by taxi to our very, very, VERY nice 5 STAR hotel on Sydney Harbour. In fact, my room was so perfect I was scared to sit on the bed in case I ruined how well made it was. I was like – “Is this really for me?”

It was 12am and I was really hungry. Just order room service, right? After all, the hotel has a super-chef downstairs just waiting to cook us a la carte meals.

BUT.

The FIVE STAR hotel was being paid for by Target, and the deal was that we had to pay for any FIVE STAR extras ourselves. The mini-bar had a “condoms and personal lubricant” kit that cost $18. If just two condoms can cost that much, I was sure that room service would cost at least $50.

So I rang Emma, and we went out and found an all night hot dog place.

We sat next to a service station on a busy road to eat them.

The hot dog was soooo yummy, and cost a lot less than two mini-bar condoms.

But I admit, it was not very glamorous.

Back to the hotel room, I was so tired that I crashed into bed.

I still couldn’t sleep, because I was probably over excited. All the noises were different, the smells were different, the bed was too bouncy and big, I felt lonely, I missed my husband, and I was worried that my children could be in danger. What will the event be like? Did I pack my toothpaste? I hope I didn’t forget to take my silver earrings! And I kept waking up from my “sleep” thinking that I missed my plane.

The next day was just a blur, especially since I hadn’t slept properly.

I decided to have a morning bath, hoping to calm myself down. But again I couldn’t relax properly, because I wanted to make the most of the day.

I took another taxi and zoomed across town to have lunch with a friend. I had only been to Sydney twice before, very briefly, and I was keen to check out a whole range of things. But there just wasn’t enough time.

This is what Sydney’s Botanic Gardens looks like from a fast moving taxi.

Apparently, it is simply beautiful in there (sigh). Oh well, maybe next time.

Took another taxi after lunch. As I was standing outside my hotel, I realised that I actually had half an hour before I needed to get ready for the launch event. So I took a short walk along the harbour.

Even though I am from Perth, a city which has a massive, beautiful river running right through it, Sydney Harbour is also pretty spectacular. For a few moments, I felt calm and content, and I wanted to get a picture of myself with the harbour in the background. I set the camera up exactly like I wanted it. I asked a random person walking by, a European guy, to take the picture, and I explained that I wanted my whole body in the picture.

As he was framing me up, I noticed he reset the zoom completely. When he showed me the picture, I was just head and shoulders with some trees in the background, and I could have been anywhere on planet Earth that had trees. He offered to take the picture again, and I reset the zoom, and asked him to make sure that all of me was in the frame. So he immediately played with the zoom again, and I just knew he was going to get it wrong. And he did. So the third time, I carefully explained to him that he didn’t need to adjust the zoom, and I pointed to my shoes, and said that I wanted them in the frame as well.

He played with the zoom AGAIN, and took another picture. I thanked him, took my camera, and headed back to the hotel. Here is the picture.

He completely missed my shoes. Arghh! At least it looks like I’m in Sydney in this photo. My smile is completely fake. I was so irritated with the guy.

Back at the hotel – shower, make-up, get dressed.

I don’t usually like to use products provided by the hotel. Not to mention, you can never tell which item are not complimentary. Thus the sinktop was totally covered with all my girlie crap. I was not looking forward to packing it all up again later.

Since the location for the event was a WATERSIDE MANSION, I thought it would be super fun to catch a water taxi to the event, not to mention, give us the opportunity to take some awesome photos of the harbour at sunset! So I organised for all the other bloggers, who were also going to the event, to meet up at the hotel so we could catch a water taxi together!

I imagined that the water taxi would pull up to a set of steps leading down to the water, and that we would all simply step onto the boat like royal princesses.

But no. Five of us, all girls, had to STEP BACKWARDS down a step ladder, like in a swimming pool, to get to the boat. So down we went, one at a time, very, very carefully. Thankfully, I was wearing full-soled platforms, but most of the other fashion bloggers were wearing high heels. Oh how glamorous!

Notice in the background, a handbag, which we had to hand down to the driver, which he placed precariously on the very edge of the bobbing boat, ready to spill all the camera gear into the harbour!

The party was fun, and fabulous and glamorous, and the clothes were great. I met celebrities, and chatted to heaps of people. All good. The party ended.

But rather than limousines to whisk us away from the mansion, we had to queue for normal taxis that seemed to take forever to arrive on a cool Friday night. Not so glamorous! My feet were killing me!

My deal with Target was that I could say whatever I liked about the event and the clothes, but I had to agree to submit whatever I wrote by midday the next day!

Since I was flying back to Perth early the next morning, I had to write up my story immediately after the event.

So while all the models and other beautiful people were off at the inevitable fashion after-event party having wild sex and snorting cocaine with rock stars, I was headed back to my hotel room.

(NOTE: I have never actually been to a fashion after party. In fact, I’ve never met anyone who has ever claimed to be at one of these legendary parties. And I have no evidence that they even happen. But I am absolutely sure that’s what they are all doing, after every fashion event. Lifestyles of the rich and famous, right?!)

As soon as I got back to my room, I called my husband in Perth. I wanted to gush about the event, but he just wanted to know where I kept the spare nappies and how to get poo stains out of the couch covers.

It was like hitting a brick wall of reality for me, and I was suddenly very, very tired.

But I still had to write up the story.

So this was me, exhausted, alone, in a huge, luxury bed with four different kinds of pillows and silk sheets, trying to do my homework.

But then I realised I was not completely alone.

I head the noise of two voices coming through the wall behind me, from the room next door. After a few minutes, the noise changed, and it quickly becomes obvious that the room next door was the honeymoon suite, and a just-married couple were making good use of their $18 condom kit.

The man must have been an athlete, because he had a LOT of stamina, and the woman was probably an actress, because she was very, very expressive – with no vocal inhibitions. It went on for a LOOOOOOOONG time, and there was a lot of sounds of furniture thumping against the walls, and it ALL MADE IT VERY HARD FOR ME TO CONCENTRATE on finishing my homework.

It was totally like a scene in a comedy movie. I was sitting there, with the noise and thumping going on, and I’m rolling my eyes going, FOR GOODNESS SAKE JUST FINISH ALREADY!!!

Oh, the glamour!!

And again I hardly slept, because I was so scared of oversleeping and missing my morning flight home.

As I checkout out the next morning, the hotel handed me a bill.

They had got me with the phone call I made to my husband. I slapped my head with my hand as I realised I had used the hotel’s landline rather than my mobile phone. ARGH!!

Taxi to the airport. Check-in. Expensive and not very nice airport breakfast.

I was so looking forward to sleep on the economy flight home.

But, I found that I was on the same flight as the Australian Youth Choir, who were doing free recitals for the whole plane. They were heavenly, their combined voices transcending the merely human – but I didn’t give a damn, I just wanted to sleep.

This finally finished, and as they went back to their seats, I realised their seats were dotted all around me, and when these kids were not singing like angels, they were just a bunch of bratty, snotty nosed teenagers, talking, gossiping, jumping, laughing, and kicking the back of my seat.

Did I mention there were a few crying babies on the same flight? I love babies, and I always feel bad for parents when their babies cry during a flight. So I shall refrain from complaining. But it was awful!

So I couldn’t sleep, and I reluctantly decided to buy a $9 movie to watch. It was “Eclipse” from the Twilight series. I had resolved never, ever to watch any of this trashy romance rubbish, but I was emotionally vulnerable and weak willed.

Now, I’m hooked. I want to see all the movies, read all the novels, become facebook friends with Robert Pattinson, and change all my background wallpapers to that warewolf guy.

And when I got home (in yet another taxi), I discovered that my husband and three children were still wearing exactly the same clothes as they had been when I left home two nights before!

(But I slept like a baby that night. As Dorothy said – There’s no place like home).

He is definitely my last baby, and I’m glad about that. But it also makes him EXTRA SPECIAL in a way that, perhaps, only a mother can know.

He’s only 19 months, and I’m already weepingly nostalgic for the smell of new baby skin. Skin with all those tiny, amazing wrinkles that give them room to grow into, and that superhero strong grip their little fingers have.

Thankfully, I don’t have any big news about Liam. He is perfectly happy and healthy, and doing all the things he should be doing when kids are one and a half years old. But, like all kids, he is doing them his own, unique way.

He is developing his language skills at a terrific rate, and has even started joining two words together, like “Daddy-Gone” of “Bye-Mama”.

He has realised that although he is small, he can have a BIG impact on the world around him. He will shout “DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!” louder and louder until an adult realises that what he means is that he wants to be lifted UP.

(I said his language skills were developing, not perfect!)

And his coordination skills are excellent. He can now pick up a stick, and use it to WHACK his brother sharply over the head with it.

Because Liam is still so small, he is THE BABY, and the older brothers can do nothing about it but wail in protest. One day soon, Liam will discover that older brothers can shove back. But right now, he is getting away with it.

Liam is also obsessed with repetition, which I remember is also a stage my other boys went through. However, neither of the other boys were obsessed with wanting to clean up.

Liam walks around till he finds a bottle top, straw or any other bit of rubbish, picks it up, and then carries it towards the rubbish bin, shouting “Bin! Bin! BIIIIIIIIIN!” Then he shouts “DOWN! DOWN! DOOOOWN!” until someone lifts him UP so he can throw the bit of rubbish in the bin.

And then he shouts “More! MORE! MOOOORE!” as he marches off to find another bit of rubbish. He’s on a mission, and nothing can stop him.

And it looks like my husband’s Viking genes have won out – the coppery red hair is here to stay, at least for a while, and maybe till Liam goes grey.

I hope he doesn’t have the fiery temperament that tradition claims goes with the hair, but if he does, I’ll try and teach him to manage it, while he is still under my motherly influence – which will hopefully be forever.

She lives somewhere in the middle of the USA, and is one of about three hundred million Americans. She is married with two young daughters, she is really into food, and part-time, she runs a catering business.

So, pretty normal stuff, right?

But Carrie is a ONE IN A MILLION LADY.

Only 300 of those 300,000,000 Americans are going to be flown to Australia in December, free of charge, to be in the audience when the Oprah Winfrey Show is held at the Sydney Opera House, as part of the last season of the show that has made Oprah Winfrey one of the most famous people of our time.

And Carrie is one of those lucky 300 people!

Anyway, Carrie emailed me last week. She told me she has been reading my blog for a couple of years.

And then she asked me if I would give her styling advice for what to wear to the Oprah Winfrey Show!

And I said YES.

I said yes for three reasons.

First, I think it is so cool that one of my readers, who is on the opposite side of the world, has been given the chance to be part of the end of the chat show that has been so influential in English speaking popular culture. Amazing things can happen to ordinary people!

Secondly, I can really relate to Carrie’s life. Although she is American, and I am Australian, we are similar ages, have similar aged kids, and both are fortunate to live in countries with really high standards of living.

Thirdly, I have never styled anyone other than myself. The only exception to this is when I styled my little sister. I was 11 and she was 7 (It took months for the glue to grow out of her hair).

So. If you are an fan of Oprah Winfrey, what is better than being in the audience?

Well, being FRONT ROW in the audience!

Apparently, your chances of getting into the front row are better if you are very “well presented” and “camera ready”. So Carrie wants to be styled really well.

I suspect that Carrie has reached a certain point in her life, as I have. She has had children, they are growing up fast, and Carrie is still a young woman. After years of intensive caring for babies and toddlers, the kids head off to school and make their own friends, and a mother has a little time to consider her own needs again.

Now it’s time for a freshen up, and perhaps a little style make-over? Well, that’s certainly where I have found myself in my own life.

So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be getting to know Carrie better, how she dresses now, and how I can help improve her chances of getting to the FRONT ROW WITH OPRAH!

Carrie and I will be doing this via email, Facebook, and Skype, and I’ll keep you updated as to how we go!

(I’m pretty excited about this! I hope this works out better for Carrie than it did for my little sister!)